This invention relates to a device for facilitating the practice of downhill skiing especially.
The subject matter of this invention concerns the technical area of sports, more especially equipment for skiing, and to the technical and medical area of devices intended for lower limbs.
It is well known that downhill skiing presents traumatic risks for the lower limbs especially and generates high muscular stresses in the thighs resulting from the most frequently flexed position of the skier's knees. This fact has led to the construction of a device designed to reduce traumatic risks of this sporting activity while increasing safety and providing structural support and assistance to the musculature.
As far as safety is concerned, the device is designed to prevent accidents by increasing the mechanical strength of the lower limb and also allows the practice of skiing for individuals whose limbs may be fragile due to a previous accident, to their age, to the lack of physical training, . . . .
As technical assistance, the device prevents axial rotation of the leg on the knee and provides a better control of ski parallelism, thus avoiding lateral shimmy, which is the cause of many falls.
On the other hand, it is known that lower limb flexion constitutes a basic principle of modern skiing technique. It results in the weight of body being constantly supported by the thigh muscles, which bear high muscular strain in order to face two stresses: on the one hand static stresses, for balancing the body weight, and on the other hand, dynamic stresses for absorbing all the jolts due to the uneven surface of the ground.
The device allows to transfer some of these forces onto an elastic suspension system, thus reducing the fatigue, and therefore the accidents due to this fatigue.
This elastic suspension, because of reasons connected to the skiing technique, is designed so as to be efficient from 10.degree. to 90.degree. knee flexion.
For that purpose, the device comprises, for each lower limb, a knee bandage including two suitably curved and profiled plates made from flexible material, one of which wraps down the leg while the other wraps up the thigh. Both plates are maintained and connected together by two fittings, one inside, the other outside, articulated at the level of the knee. Or, in another embodiment, these two plates are maintained and connected together by being directly articulated at the level of the knee.
The curved lower plate or one part of the relevant fitting is fastened to elastic components adapted to be tensioned when flexing the knee. For that purpose, on either side of the knee, a disk is formed at the bottom of the upper fitting or on an arm projecting downward. A curved upper plate is profiled like a cam, and cooperates with a lever, pivoting around a disk eccentrically mounted on a shaft integral with a part of the fitting or of the lower plate, thus applying tension to the elastic components. An eccentric disk operated by a handle spaces the lever from the cam, thus cancelling the action of the elastic components.